The Future Of Sales: Social Networking

Social media has a huge impact on buying behavior, with 49% of sellers looking at it. Social media An important factor for their success. In fact, 2/3 of the most successful salesmen think social media is them. Sales Success The necessary factors.

In the era of Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yelp, buyers and salesmen exert equal influence on information flow. Buying behavior was once a one-way interaction between a fully informed seller and a curious buyer. Now it has become an equal dialogue between buyers and sellers, and the revolution of buying behavior is still in progress.

In order to find out what is changing and the reasons for the change, OgilvyOne has conducted a total of 1000 sales commissioners in the US, UK, China and China.

We understand that social media is right. purchasing behavior 49% of sellers consider social media as an important factor in their success. In fact, 2/3 of the most successful salesmen believe that social media is a necessary factor for their sales success.

But companies are not adapting to this trend very quickly. 68% of the sales commissioners say they believe that the speed of the sales process is faster than that of the organizations themselves. The company did not provide reliable social media training to the sales commissioner. In fact, many companies are actively weakening the use of social media, ignoring the fact that consumers are using social media to buy. Nearly half of the sales commissioners considered their company afraid of letting employees use social media.

Many American companies claim to have social media strategies, but only 9% of American salesmen say their company trains or teaches them to use social media in sales. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in which 25% of the salesperson interviewed said they had received training in social media use. 38% of the Chinese salesmen interviewed used personal blogs in the sales process, while only 3% of American salesmen did so.

If salesmen want to provide solutions to their customers, sales must synchronize with buying behavior. There are many good ways for salesmen to adopt an ideal partnership for an interested consumer. Linking all these new ideas together is "user centered". The new world of distributed information has not relaxed its concern for customers. In other words, it has strengthened customer's concern.

　 1. new buying experience

Consumers will form their own buying experience (buyer journey). Without the intervention of sellers, consumers will complete many purchase steps themselves, but they may not always start with the first step. A lot of behavior occurs after the sale of goods, especially when consumers experience a brand and share their experience with others. Sometimes they talk with a few friends and family members, or may spontaneously pass their ideas to hundreds, thousands or millions of people through social networks. Salespeople need to find out which stage their customers are in the course of their buyers and recommend the best way to reach their targets.

　 2. the new role of content: Digital bait.

In a media world without direct access to intermediaries, consumers crave the content of specialized production, and we can use this desire to create digital bait to bring consumers to our information. There are three main types of digital bait.

First, beliefs and opinions: post your company's beliefs and purposes. Not everyone will like it, but it will attract potential customers who agree with the value concept represented by the merchandise you sell.

Two, professionalism: consumers and potential customers crave high quality professional information. They want to be smart shoppers and want information. They value real expert advice about consumer categories and your business. Anyway, they will produce this kind of information. If you help the leaders in creating their speeches, you will get the kindness of customers.

Three, invitations and Discounts: you need to extend attractive invitations and discounts to facilitate people's participation.

　 3. new listening skills: observing digital footprints

Consumers and potential customers send hundreds of millions of digital purchasing signals every day. Through search keywords, blogs, downloaded white papers and things added to shopping baskets, they are constantly showing their intentions.

Consumers and potential customers are leaving behind the digital footprints that can be observed and acted upon by skilled hunters. For example, IBM uses digital footprints to find potential sales targets for their software department. IBM studied the specific language used by IT customers in searching for software topics, and then designed a series of cheap "how to" videos around these themes. IBM attached these videos to YouTube and used the keywords that customers used in search to be used as labels for these videos.

　 4. new marketing skills: Behavioral Economics

Behavioral economics examines the reasons and ways consumers make choices and the economic impact of these choices. Behavioral economics combines the rationality and sensibility of purchase decisions, producing some surprising insights:

Creating a default option is one of the most efficient ways to reach a transaction. Without a default option, human inertia will become a stumbling block for sales.

Sometimes, rising prices will increase sales rather than reduce sales.

Another example that is contrary to intuition is that increasing more choices usually leads to less volume rather than more. {page_break}

5. a new way of selling: socialized sales

For now, sales are more like a social practice than ever before. Great salesmen will use all their alliances to force consumers to complete transactions with new buying experiences.

In order to release the new 2010 Explorer car, a community of explorers and enthusiastically supporters has been established online. The company shares the company's plans for the new car, releases a preview of the car, and gives the explorer's fans the right to see and drive the new explorers first. The owners of the 11 major cities have been interested in the new car, and the car dealers are ready to make reservations in advance. The number of advance bookings for the new car has risen to 10 thousand, far ahead of expectations.

　 6. new partnership: sales are team sports.

Just as salesmen are collaborate with customers in new ways, sales and marketing also need new deployments. But who should lead? Who should follow? Should the marketing elements added to sales be limited? One thing is clear except for all kinds of uncertainties: successful sales require new and deeper collaboration.

Great salesmen will use all alliances to force consumers to complete transactions with new buying experiences. Sales staff collaborate with marketers; sales people use social media to create motivation; salespeople and consumers create solutions together.

　 Your 30 day plan

Next, list five things you can do in the next 30 days.

1. walk on the buyer's footsteps.

Write down the three most recent purchases in your personal life, and accurately jot down your shopping history.

What role do sales people play in real life?

Media, including search and social media, what role do they play?

Study your business in the same way. Talk to three people who recently shoped from you. What did they buy? Write it down. Draw a history chart.

Do you have a good discount and a systematic approach to customer satisfaction?

2. use digital bait.

Can you make a convincing 2 minute video on Youtube?

Do you tell people what your purpose is?

Do you provide your customers with real expertise and insight so that they can make good choices?

3. use social media to sell something.

It may be a simple thing to happen, perhaps a new product that is more complicated. The important thing is to try and evaluate this method.

4. let marketers and salesmen stay in the same house.

Spend half a day with each other.

Are your ideas consistent with your goals?

What can marketers do for salesmen?

What can salesmen do for marketers?

How can you turn tennis opponents into a winning basketball team?

5. join the new sales dialogue.

This is the most important moment in the history of marketing and sales. Great changes have taken place in buying, and we have lagged behind as sellers. But our customers hope we can catch up. They are counting on us, especially if they want to have a person navigate in a world where they can not cope with information flooding.

Brian Featherstonehou (Brian Fetherstonhaugh) is president and CEO of Ogilvy interactive.